Winnsboro is ready for rodeo week

WINNSBORO, La. – There is something special in this community that comes to town every summer.

It’s the Deep South PRCA Rodeo, set for 8 p.m. Thursday, July 30-Saturday, Aug. 1, at Deep South Rodeo Arena in Winnsboro. It’s a busy week for local organizers, and it’s a big week for the staff of Pete Carr’s Classic Pro Rodeo, which will produce event.

“Pete brings some really good stock to our rodeo, and that’s really good for us,” said Skipper Stinson, a key member of the committee that produces the annual rodeo. “That helps make our rodeo better. The better the cowboys and the better the stock, the better the rodeo is going to be.”

Some of the top names in the game have found success in Winnsboro, including Louisiana cowboys who try to make their way back home to compete at the event even through the rigors of the rodeo schedule.

“When you go to Pete’s rodeos, you know you’re going to have a shot to win first,” said bareback rider Winn Ratliff of Leesville, La., a two-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier who also added victories at Carr events in the Texas towns of Weatherford, Nacogdoches and Crosby. “You have to do your part and ride good, but if you do your job, you’re going to have the opportunity to win the rodeo.”

That’s often the case, no matter where the Carr animals perform.

“Pete Carr is one of the premier stock contractors in the world,” said saddle bronc rider Heith DeMoss, a five-time NFR qualifier from Heflin, La. “Pete taking it another step further is amazing to me. It’s just going to make it better for everybody.”

DeMoss is the reigning champion at the Deep South Rodeo, so he knows as well as anyone. A year ago, he matched moves with Carr’s Night Train for 88 points to win the Winnsboro title.

“Pete has such an array of horse now that no matter where he goes, he will have it to where everybody has a chance to win money,” DeMoss said. “It’s a riding contest instead of a drawing contest, and that’s what Pete’s got in his mind to do. I’m behind him all the way.”

That bodes well for those who have plans to take in the annual rodeo.

“It is a very established rodeo that’s been around a long time,” said Andy Stewart, the rodeo’s announcer from nearby Collinston, La. “We saw a lot of great cowboys from that area over the years that come to that rodeo.”

The legacy is still growing.

“We get a lot of the circuit cowboys to come, and we get a lot of the great guys from our area,” said Stewart, who has been nominated six times as the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association announcer of the year. “The thing that Pete Carr and his crew provides at this rodeo is professionalism and production.

“This is a very small arena and a very small community, but we bring in a great production and great animals. It’s a great, professional show.”